1st August 2006, 4:40 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi
Oh, and as for "major characters aren't in the picture", I guess that Bomberman (one of the main exceptions) is simply because that franchise doesn't have any characters in it that anyone would recognize that aren't Bombermen... but that doesn't hold true for Kirby. Or Castlevania, or several others... so I don't know. But they clearly did try to leave out some of the stars (Samus, Mario, Link, Sonic, Goemon, Mega Man, etc) and instead include lesser characters from their franchises...
Oh, and as for "major characters aren't in the picture", I guess that Bomberman (one of the main exceptions) is simply because that franchise doesn't have any characters in it that anyone would recognize that aren't Bombermen... but that doesn't hold true for Kirby. Or Castlevania, or several others... so I don't know. But they clearly did try to leave out some of the stars (Samus, Mario, Link, Sonic, Goemon, Mega Man, etc) and instead include lesser characters from their franchises...